6 THINGS APPLE HAS YET TO FILL US IN ON
“For Apple TV to succeed it will have to give people what they already want on a TV: TV shows.”
Even following its two-hour-plus press shindig Wednesday, there are several unknowns facing Apple in the weeks and months ahead.
In some areas, Apple will be facing newly competitive pressures. In others, it needs to penetrate markets others have gotten to first.
Here’s what to keep an eye on:
Smartwatches. The fact that Apple hasn’t disclosed sales numbers for the Apple Watch has left many people wondering just how well the company’s prized wearable is faring.
Of course, in announcing new watchbands and styles on Wednesday — and indicating that there are now some 10,000 apps, well ahead of what’s available for Samsung ’s watches and for Android Wear devices — Apple remains firmly committed to the category.
Apple’s new Watch OS2 software will be available for your wrist Sept. 16, promising fresh watch faces, more native apps that don’t require you to carry your phone and other features with the potential to make wearing the watch more appealing. We’ll see. Competition is heating up. Samsung is about to release its own new Gear S2 smartwatches based on the Tizen operating system. New Android Wear watches are in the works, with refreshed entries from Asian competitors such as Lenovo-owned Motorola (the Moto 360), LG and Huawei. Meantime, the latest Android Wear watches get a boost from new Google software that will allow some models to work with the iPhone.
Apple Pay. Expect the next few months to provide a further proving ground for Apple Pay, an area Apple will again face off against Samsung and Google. Apple Pay lets you use your phone, tablet or watch to pay in physical stores and online.
Apple CEO Tim Cook has said that 1.5 million U.S. merchants will be Apple Pay-ready by year end. And Discover is joining American Express, MasterCard and Visa as credit companies that are compatible with Apple’s system.
How big a threat Samsung will pose to Apple Pay in the U.S. is an unknown. But when Samsung Pay launches here at the end of the month on compatible Samsung flagship phones, it will claim one theoretical advantage against Apple Pay — it promises to work in more places. That’s because Samsung Pay not only is compatible with the kind of NFC-type terminals where Apple Pay (and Android Pay) work, but also on most of the older older terminals that rely on so-called magnetic stripe technology.
Other competition will come from Google, which hadn’t had much success with Google Wallet but now has a renewed focus under what is now called Android Pay
Apple Music. It’ll be three months at the end of September since Apple launched Apple Music. That means the free trial period for premium features on the streaming service will soon expire. You may like Apple Music but face a conundrum if you already pay for Spotify or another streaming competitor. Has Apple convinced you to switch and pay $9.99 for a monthly Apple Music membership or $14.99 for a family membership (of up to six)?
How many people answer yes will help define the success of Apple Music.
Meantime, Apple has said that it will have a version of Apple Music for Android users, too, but hasn’t specified timing.
Apple TV. Questions surrounding Apple TV didn’t end with Wednesday’s announcements of a revamped and pricey new set-top box. Siri voice search is a nice addition, but voice search already is on TV boxes from Google, Amazon and Roku.
Opening up Apple TV to developers, especially for casual games and the like, is a plus and will bear watching, though again, Apple hasn’t reinvented the wheel here.
Forrester analyst James McQuivey outlines the biggest challenge: “For Apple TV to succeed it will have to give people what they already want on a TV: TV shows. But for that to happen, the companies that own the best shows have to give Apple those rights, and from my conversations with them, Apple along with Google are the two companies that nobody wants to give that content to.”
Would Apple follow in Netflix’s footsteps and attempt to produce its own content? “It may be Apple’s only hope to really make a dent in the world of TV content given how little content it can acquire rights to on its own,” McQuivey says. Such a strategic move would surprise me.
Self- driving car. The Brit
ish newspaper The Guardian reported last month that it had
Forrester analyst James McQuivey
obtained documents that prove Apple is building a self-driving car.
Apple is characteristically mum on the topic, but it’s a pretty good bet that the company wants to challenge Google out on the road. How soon Apple might reach the finish line on such an effort is left to speculation.
Altered reality. Put this one in the wild-card category because we really haven’t heard a peep about Apple’s potential plans (if any) for virtual reality or augmented reality. Still, you have to believe somewhere in Cupertino, Calif., people are working in these respective altered fields. After all, Google with Cardboard, Facebook with Oculus, Microsoft with HoloLens, Sony with Morpheus and HTC with Vive are already pretty far along.
Will Apple join them?